Part 25: Lise and the Lost Cities

For the penultimate God-Beast we're going back to an area that was referenced way back at the beginning of the game, when we got our very first spirit. There wasn't any way to get up there, but… dragon.



The Ancient Ruins are a great area, although a bit confusing at times. It really looks like a decaying city, and there's lots of nooks, crannies, and covered areas where you can't see what you're actually fighting.




There's a wide variety of enemies in the ruins. The pakkuri babies/pakkun dragons aren't a big deal, but most enemies have some way of reducing your maximum HP. Luckily the silver knights don't get a full screen tech, instead opting to spam healing on themselves. The grell mages can moogle your entire party. All in all it's not that dangerous, just occasionally tedious.



There are also screens full of potos, which makes sense given that they can heal and use light elemental attacks. The theme of the area is very clear in the choice of enemies.



While tinkering around the place, a few more traps make their first appearance. I've seen the little reaper icon for this one for quite a while but this is the first time it's actually struck.



It does exactly what you'd expect. I don't believe I've mentioned, but this scene is normally an impossibility. Death only occurs when combat is going on, and you're brought back to life with 1 hp when combat ends. In this case exiting the screen and then coming back will bring Lise back with 1 hp.



The second new trap is stone, which drops a rock on one character for about a quarter of their HP.



The puzzle, if you call it that, is a note on a wall. The duality of it is pretty obvious, and the tablets aren't exactly hard to find.



Actually, they're right down stairs. You really can't miss it at this point.



It's a simple matter of using Wisp on the left tablet and Shade on the right. One opens the path further along, while the other creates a short cut back to near the beginning of the dungeon.



Circling back around the now opened path leads to this little fork, formerly filled with two Mama Potos, just enough that they could summon a Papa Poto to make things a bit more difficult.



Down the left fork is a much needed golden goddess, and down the right...

God-Beast Battle: Lightgazer


Lightgazer is part of the group of enemies that you see the announcement before it actually shows up. In other cases that was an attempt at suspense..


Lightgazer Battle Video

In this case, it's because Lightgazer is an unholy abomination against nature. Seriously, it's one of the creepiest looking of the God-Beasts.




As the God-Beast of Light, Lightgazer naturally gets both level 1 and level 2 holy attack magic, in single and multi-target varieties.



Occasionally Lightgazer will shimmer and disappear, then turn back up somewhere. This can cause some very strange reactions when the AI controlled characters are trying to use techniques.




He also gets a couple of unique attacks. Geyseblast, the eye laser, does about 250 damage to the entire party, while the lightning based attack does about half that but turns your entire group into moogles. Two taps of the chibikko hammer will fix that noise.



As the battle wears on, he'll cast Saint Saber on some of your party members to regain some life. Any saber will replace the effect, negating the tactic.



As a final annoyance, he also starts spamming Heal Light, but the 400 HP isn't enough to win a damage race, just delay the inevitable a bit.




The reward for keeping up the effort is a three stage explosion, and the knowledge that we're one step closer to some more actual plot. Speaking of, there's a bit of a problem now...



"But that Mana Stone has been missing for centuries…"



"Josephine told us to visit the city of Pedan… maybe we can find some clues there."

"Uh.. Lise, we were just there. What do you think is going to be different now?"

"Something. Listen, I don't know. It's not like you have any better ideas."



This time, entering the single ruined building brings you to an inn that's operated by a poster on the wall. Somehow this also results in the inn collecting money… presumably on the honor system.



When we wake up and go outside, we're in Pedan. Don't ask too many questions about how.



"…it was a bright, shining castle on an island north of Rolante. Of course, nobody lives there anymore. The kingdom was destroyed long ago."

"Ring any bells, Lise?"

"Can't say it does, but it sounds like a potential place to look for the God-Beast of Darkness."



"Somewhere deep in that jungle is a large structure, the Mirage Palace. I don't know of anyone who's ever found it, though."

"I don't care if that's a potential hiding place for the God-Beast of Darkness, I'm not tramping through the jungle."




In addition to vague hints about end game locations, Pedan also has stores every bit as good as the cat girls claimed they were. The armor is the main point, however, as the weapons are so expensive that it's easier to find better gear than to save up the required amount of cash.



"Long ago, there were eight Mana Stones, but today, we only know the locations of seven of them."

"The missing one is the Mana Stone of Darkness. I've examined the ancient scripts, and I believe I have located the Mana Stone of Darkness."

"It's to the north of Rolante, in the Cave of Darkness…"

"Well, that's pretty damn convenient."

"Shade seemed like a pretty decent guy, maybe the God-Beast is similarly helpful."



"You can't read it? Very well… I will read it for you."

"When the world ends, mana will disappear, and the tree of life will fall to a dark Prince."

"Three heroes, wielding the Sword of Mana wills tanned against the forces of the Underworld…"

"…the tablet is broken there."

"Faerie, are you aware of any prophecies like this?"

"Uh… sure. Yeah, I just didn't want to make you guys nervous."



"…but I doubt this will happen anytime soon!"

"I really don't know how to respond to that. When ARE we?"



"The Priest of Darkness lost, and then disappeared somewhere…"

"Ring any bells, Carlie?"

"Before my time, I suppose… and possibly before my parents. I suppose it doesn't make sense to have a Priest of Light without a Priest of Darkness…"

"Could it be related to the Death Jester…?



"The island itself is made of a fine glass powder… and the Dragon Emperor lives somewhere on it."

"The Dragon Emperor is stronger and smarter than any human."

"Geeze, if you love the Dragon Emperor so much why don't you marry it?"

"Right now, he's making plans to destroy the city of Pedan."

"Oh…"



"I… I just can't sleep at night knowing that's going to happen?"

"Wait, I'm confused now. Are we back in time ten years, or are we in a weird alternate dimension, or what?"

"Your guess is as good as mine at this point."

"Kind of… both. It's complicated.




The area around Pedan now has enemies, most of which are types we've seen before. They're fairly high level, but for the most part nothing unusual.



Night brings out a few new enemies. Great Rabites occasionally use an attack that essentially quadruples their size, making for some very amusing moments.



Enemies in this area are a great opportunity to get weapon/armor seeds, which can generate the best equipment in the game. That's not the real prize in this area, however...



Instead, the reason to roam around Pedan are these enemies, which for some reason are called "boulders." Most likely, this is a mistranslation of beholder.



They have a fairly high chance of dropping ??? seeds...



Which can grow into the required items for the second class change. And, by sheer coincidence, we're also at level 38. And that means…

Voting Time!